Disclaimer: Apparently I don't own Naruto, or the ability to come up with creative disclaimers.
Scenes Referenced: The 'Search for Tsunade' arc, when Itachi and Kisame come to take Naruto while Jiraya is distracted. Then, later, when she's fighting Kabuto and has a near death experience.
Swoon
Uchiha.
The word rang with past experiences, smudged with the ashes of corpses and seared with flames of pure and utter rage. Kurama saw glimpses of the battle through Naruto's eyes, and could already hear the clinking of chains shadowing his dismal prison.
No. Shake it off. This Uchiha wasn't... wasn't that one. The one who had haunted him far past the limits of a mortal lifespan. Responsible for tying him up in puppet strings and sending him into the cage of his first jinchuriki. Huffing and splashing shattered the demon's brooding. It seemed his host was as noisy as always.
"F-Fox..." the twelve year-old gasped. "...I could really use your help right now..." Her words dissolved into a fit of wheezing as the weakling bent over, hands on her knees. Kurama sighed. Was she not aware that, as her subconscious, bodily needs were optional? This was her domain. She had all the power here. Well, if she didn't know, then he certainly wasn't complaining.
The nine-tailed fox shifted in his cell, shadows dancing over snowy skin and outdated robes. "Haven't seen you in a while, brat," Kurama greeted, clearly not letting any of his Uchiha-related anxiety leak into his tone. Clearly.
Brat scoffed, a disdainful 'bah'. "Shaddup, grandpa. Your landlady's getting tired of the attitude. Just be a nice fox and cough up the goods, okay?" It wasn't a question. His hair bristled with the insult, chakra tails spiking and bubbling. If the little idiot had half a brain she would've noticed the floodwaters rippling out from the gates, lapping at her silly shinobi sandals. Neither Mito nor Kushina had been nearly so impudent, nor blatantly stupid.
Damn Uzumaki women.
Breathe in... and breathe out. "I won't take sass from you, kit." Kurama ground out. Better inhale again, but slower. Exhale. There. Now speak. "My chakra is yours... for now." At that, the twelve year-old's blue eyes lit up. Obviously that little hint at the end had gone completely over her head.
As tendrils of the scarlet energy infused with her own chakra stores, the little girl grinned. "Thanks for that! I was in trouble for a while there... wait, what?" She blinked, before slamming her foot into the concrete floor, sending water splashing all over the place.
Kurama recoiled to avoid the shower of droplets, retreating back a few paces out of the splash-zone and into the relative safety of his cage. He saw what was occurring just as clearly as his host did. 'It seems I've underestimated Uchiha's companion...' Even as the real world moved in slow time, the lumbering shark-man's sword was absorbing the little kunoichi's demonic chakra as soon as it was given.
Was that his visitor swearing? Cute, but this wasn't the time for immature exclamations. The demon might've had half a mind to stick a bar of soap in his host's deplorable mouth if he actually cared about her development. For a child, the human certainly cursed frequently.
How irritating. The Kyuubi huffed in disgust, cautiously inching back towards the front of his confinement to confront the runt. He hadn't wanted to give her any more chakra than he had, but at this rate... Oh. The blonde had vanished. A ring of disturbed water was all that remained of her short-lived presence.
The fool! She would be defeated for sure!
Days, maybe weeks later...
They survived the encounter with the Uchiha and his companion only to die days later. The medic-nin with the gleaming glasses and the knowing smile had shoved through his host's chest, severing her heart muscles and chakra system.
Darkness crept in.
The kunoichi stood closer than normal, but her arms dangled limply at her sides and her head was slack, only the top of her skull was visible to him as her blonde hair spilled over her front. Gold strands, falling loose from their pigtails, were quickly becoming soaked with the blood that was bubbling up from the gaping hole in her ribs.
It made sense that the twerp would retreat to her subconscious before she died.
Kurama's chakra ears folded flat against his long hair. He edged closer to the bars of his cage, alarm rising in his chest as the room temperature began to plummet. The demon shivered, the chill managing to sink its teeth directly into his bones. Lovely. The brat couldn't just keel over on her own; she had to drag him down with her.
The fox's lips, now faintly blue, curled back into a snarl. The little girl would have to try a whole lot harder than that if she wanted to take him out. "Hey, kit." Kurama barked, settling a freezing palm against one the gate's bars. Bad choice; they were freezing. But the fox didn't move his hand, and leaned forward to push his head through the gap in the cage. "Wake up already. Who gave you permission to die?"
No answer. Only a steady dripping from the 12 year-old's chest.
A tiny bout of anxiety began to gnaw and nibble at the kitsune. No. He'd been with her since the day she was born; that brat wouldn't let something as insignificant as a fatal injury to put her down for the count. If the mortal had any good point whatsoever it would be her abundance of sheer, unstoppable determination.
Kurama watched her blood turn to red smoke beneath the surface of the room's floodwaters, taking a slow step back into his cage. He tried to swallow, failed, and opted instead to squeeze his eyes shut. This couldn't be happening! He couldn't die like this, trapped and alone and freezing. When the demon opened his eyes, the room was that much darker.
There was a red spot on his chest, over where he thought his heart might be. The area began to throb, and a great splashing shattered the silence of the room as Kurama, strongest of the tailed beasts, fell to his knees.
His robes on his lower half soaked through, and when the fox ventured to brush the red spot with tentative fingertips, the spot was larger and just as soaked. Blood. He was bleeding!
Kurama hissed, crawling back towards the openings of his confinement. By this point, the kunoichi had collapsed, a third of her body concealed by the water. She was on her side, facing his way with an expression akin to slumber. Something had dribbled from her parted lips, leaving a crimson streak down her too-pale cheek. Right. Punctured lung, and all that.
Could the Kyuubi fix his broken host?
Summoning his chakra, the demon reached out to the dying girl, clawed hands extended, but falling short by at least ten feet. His eyebrows furrowed, a feeling akin to desperation beginning to build in his chest (he knew the exact spot; it was red and only growing redder). Kurama shuddered, hand falling to the ground uselessly as the blackness began to shadow the outskirts of his vision.
Her chakra had been severed from her heart. He couldn't touch her.
"Brat, I'm serious..." Had his mouth always been so dry? "...don't die. At least not while I'm around. Wait to do it on your own time." The joke, if you could call it that, quickly soured in the empty air.
Kurama, sagging against his gate, struggled to lift his arm for another attempt to save both of their lives. How could a single limb be so heavy? His fingers twitched towards the blonde's unconscious form, and moved no further.
Things were slowing down. Kurama's vision fogged as he forced his jaw open, his lips to form words. He didn't even know what, or even if, he was saying at this point. "H-Hum...an... wake up... already. D-damn i-it..." His head slumped, cheek resting on icy metal. Though, at this point the demon could scarcely feel the cold.
A swiftly blackening and blurring image of his host's yellow hair dyed vermillion with blood. "Naru...to..." the Kyuubi ground out, reddening waters soaking into his robes, his damned soul.
Kurama knew... the moment his eyelids... slid shut... he was heading... straight for... the abyss.
Darkness.
A/N: Heyyy guys this chapter is a little longer than the last one, but not by much. Sorry the chapters have been so short; they'll increase dramatically in length once I get the first half of Naruto out of the way. In Shippuden, things will definitely start picking up. *waggles eyebrows* On that note, we only have one more chapter to go before reaching Shippuden. Muchmuchmuch thanks to everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed! I appreciate it more than you know, hah. ;-;
Leave a comment if you have any ideas for scenes to incorporate between the two of them once Naruto gets older. I already know where I'm going with this story, but I wouldn't mind doing some fan-service if it's something a lot of people are wanting. Also, tell me if I've got Naruto and Kurama in character. I know I've got Naruto down pretty well, but I've been sifting through some fanfictions and my portrayal of Kurama is pretty different than a lot of interpretations. How do you guys feel about that?
Up Next: The Sasuke Retrieval Arc!